East Side Elementary School is a new school designed for 400 Grade 1 to 5 and 100 kindergarten students. The 4,138 sq m three-storey building is raised over at-grade parking, meeting municipal parking requirements while also taking advantage of western views of the Chilliwack agricultural community.

The school includes 16 classrooms and 4 kindergarten spaces, along with a Neighborhood Learning Centre which consists of daycare and before- and after-school care spaces. The agricultural land reserve is preserved, and a large field to the west of the school facilitates supervised outdoor play.

The design team was inspired by the regional context of “Agricultural Productivity,” informed by Chilliwack’s rich heritage of agricultural and land formation. In this valley, the site is surrounded by abundant farmland, the winding Fraser and Vedder Rivers, and the powerful mountains of the Fraser Valley.

Guided by these natural landscapes, the elementary school incorporates these abstracted gestures into a modern contemporary form that will become a community landmark providing safety from the floodplains, majestic views of the Valley, and will be representative of an innovative and modern city that remains strongly connected to its heritage.

The project has a strong awareness of sustainability goals, aiming to have a 70% to 75% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through increased insulation in wall assemblies, and strategic use of heat pumps and heat recovery systems. The gym features mass timber trusses which visually matches the project’s sustainability ambitions while also speaking to the agricultural design intent.